Dangerous Side Effects May Include
by Dru
Summary: A lifethreatening camping trip brings revelations. Rating for drug use and Owen's filthy mouth. Cowritten with Quallianmaghouin
1. Chapter 1

Ianto watched the life in the hub below, wondering how they did it. Tosh and Gwen were sitting on the couch, Tosh with her laptop propped on her knees so she at least appeared to be working. They were talking easily, sharing the current gossip he supposed. They laughed quickly, and seemed to know exactly what to say. Owen sat at his desk, angled towards them, with the feet propped up on the corner. He threw in a comment or bit of innuendo when it suited him, speaking without thinking, and without looking up from his sudoku puzzle. Jack was, well, somewhere. His office Ianto supposed, though he should be swooping in at any moment with a leer and an interesting case.

He wondered how they all made it look so damn easy.

Ianto descended the steps and moved quietly through the hub, matching its occupants with the coffees on his tray. Gwen and Tosh, blue and pink mugs respectively. They gave little smiles of thanks as Ianto handed them their drinks. He gave his own slight smile in return, hoping it looked sincere.

He went to stand behind Owen, the man's green mug hovering precariously over his head as the doctor slouched in his office chair, feet thrown up on the table, resting on a pile of folders. Ianto glared at the boots that were leaving scuff marks all over the paperwork and wood, and briefly considered spilling Owen's coffee on his head.

He cleared his throat instead, before moving so that he was in Owen's line of sight.

Owen jerked and nearly fell over in his chair, falling forward and feet hitting the floor. His sudoku book went flying, and Ianto caught it neatly. "Fuck! Do you have to constantly sneak up on people? It's creepy!"

"You're getting scuff marks all over the desk. It's going to take forever to get them off, and you're certainly not going to do it."

"It's a desk. It's _my_ desk. Who cares if there are a few scuff marks? Go count your coffee beans or something." Owen flipped his off and leaned back again throwing his feet back up on the desk, scraping the sole of his shoe purposely on a batch of reports Ianto had just printed out.

Ianto glared at him, and tried to think of a comeback, something witty, and … and… normal. No one got his sense of humour. He didn't usually get his own sense of humour. What would Jack say? Go...cut up some dead bodies? Eh. How about you do some actual work? Oh forget it. What's the point? Ianto was just the tea boy, server of coffee and cleaner of shit. No one expected a witty come back from him. There was something though, right on his tongue, biting and cruel, and if he could just think.

"What?" Ianto asked, blinking. Owen was giving him an odd look, one he usually reserved for weird, yet slightly pathetic aliens. Well that fit. Ianto realised Owen must have been waiting for a comeback for quite some time. Ianto frowned and put Owen's coffee on the far end of the desk. He would have to stretch for it, and there was always the chance he could overbalance and fall. He'd have to put his feet down at any rate.

Ianto quickly moved away from the desk, and Owen's questioning stare, but he also took the sudoku book, revelling in the small victory.

There was Jack. Ianto watched the man walk out of his office, reading from a folder, heading towards them. Without looking up the captain pushed Owen's feet off the desk. Ianto smirked. Then Jack took the puzzle book and handed it back to Owen, who smirked in turn. Ianto resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at the doctor.

Jack finally looked up and took the last remaining mug from Ianto's tray, replacing it with his folder, before propping himself up on Owen's desk where the feet had been.

Ianto picked up the file and flicked through it idly.

"Okay kids," Jack began, speaking loudly enough to get everyone's attention. "We've had a weevil sighting up at some camping grounds near here. No death's yet, but hell if I know how one got so far from the cities. I need two volunteers to come with me to check it out."

No one moved. Ianto tried to sink into the floor. 'Not me, Not me, Not me', he prayed silently.

Jack rolled his eyes at the lack of enthusiasm. "Okay fine, Gwen, Tosh you're staying here to keep a eye on the hub." He took a sip of coffee and hummed appreciatively.

"I guess you've been already traumatised by the countryside enough." He added with a grin and a wink.

Ianto turned to look at his boss, the twitch of an eyebrow the only sign of his surprise. It had been a joke. Ianto was fairly certain of that. Maybe his captain hadn't realised he was in the room?

Jack turned to the younger man beside him. "Ianto, I'm gonna need the camping supplies, and everything else we'll need."

Oh.

"You and Owen, lucky boys," Jack continued. "have just won an all expense paid adventure holiday with yours truly! This will be fun!"

Owen spluttered into his coffee, and Jack held up a hand to stop the protest, "Ah! None of that. You're coming whether you like it or not. Just think. Three guys out in the woods, bonding with nature, having fun!" Ianto snapped the folder closed.

"Camping?" Owen clarified, voice squeaking slightly.

"Yup. No cannibals I promise." Jack took another sip from his mug, and leaned over towards Ianto, intending to give him the thankful kiss that usually accompanied such fine coffee. Not bloody likely.

Ianto gracefully sidestepped him and turned towards the basement.

"I should go get the supplies ready." Ianto said calmly as he headed away from the group, setting his own untouched coffee on Tosh's workstation and ignoring Owen's snickering comments about frigid boyfriends.

Ianto managed to walk slowly until he was out of site, before allowing his pace to quicken with the need to be away from the main hub.

Jack hadn't meant anything by it. It had just been a stupid, poorly thought out joke. Jack was never in top form before his coffee. But he had been right. Of course Gwen and Tosh were traumatised. Gwen had been shot and poor Tosh, she had been frightened to death, nearly eaten.

And him. He had been the one "tenderised", with his head shoved in a canvas bag. It was his arms, legs, heart that had been fought over. It was him that had been told that they considered testicles a delicacy. And really, who the hell looked at their equipment the same way after an observation like that.

He was still off meat, still felt the cleaver against his throat in quiet, boring moments when he had nothing to keep him occupied.

But, he wasn't supposed to be traumatised. Not Ianto. He was supposed to brush it off, and make coffee, and not throw up when Owen ordered meat lover's pizza for a solid week after.

The captain dressed from another era. Probably subscribed to that era's Neanderthal grunting, chest thumping, macho 'boys don't cry" bullshit. Except he didn't. Jack had always been so understanding before. He had just been joking. He wasn't like that.

"Well fuck it." Ianto declared out loud, feeling himself start to shake with a sudden, familiar cold. He dug through his pocket, pulling out a small pill bottle and tipping out the one last white tablet. He slammed it into his mouth, and chewed to make the medication get into his blood stream faster, instead of having to wait, even though the world was still slightly fuzzy from the last dose. wincing only slightly at the taste. He'd have to get his prescription refilled. He'd been taking more than usual lately. But that was okay. Dr. Brenson had said to, until they settled out the dosage. Today was just one of the bad ones, and he needed a little extra help.

"Fuck it." He repeated.

He laughed suddenly, and tried to ignore the tinge of hysteria it held, leaning against the wall to steady himself. He ended up sliding down the bricks, landing with a hard jolt that knocked the breath out of his lungs.

"Fuck it." He said for a third time, rolling the word around in his mouth, wondering why he always ended up sounding like Owen at times like this.

He buried his face in his knees and waited for the medication to begin to take effect.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack spread his arms, dropping his head back to soak in the warm sun. He loved the countryside, occasional cannibal or weevil non- withstanding. The air wasn't so stale in the country, and didn't taste of exhaust. He breathed in deeply, and immediately choked on the lungful of air as Ianto bumped into him with much more force than necessary.

"Sorry, Sir." Ianto replied coolly, with only a hint of smirk. Jack supposed Ianto was still mad about being volunteered. It had been a good idea. Jack wasn't even sure when the last time Ianto had left the hub for any amount of time. The fresh air would be good for him. Okay, so maybe he had put his foot in his mouth when he had told the girls to stay home. Jack hadn't meant to sound like an insensitive jackass. It had just come out that way. He had even apologised, loudly, with very little clothing. Jack had simply taken it for granted that where he went, Ianto would follow. Especially if there was a possibility of having sex in a tent. He'd find a way to make it up to him later. Really. Ianto couldn't be that mad.

Ianto passed by him without another word. Dropping the tent pegs beside the fire ring. Obviously, he hadn't forgiven Jack quite yet. The captain decided not to mention it again. It seemed the best way to deal with it.

"Come on guys!" He cajoled. "It's beautiful out! The sun's shining. The birds are singing."

"The deadly, violent face sucking aliens are skulking about in the bushes!"

Jack ignored Owen, and continued as if uninterrupted.

"It's warm, the sky's blue, there's not a cloud in the sky. We're going to have a great time."

Ianto stared at him blankly, while Owen swore and kicked the folded tent.

"We're camping! In the woods. In the middle of Bum-fuck Wales. With insects, and snakes, and, and," The angry man grasped for another horrific example. "And I fucking hate camping!" he finished.

Jack turned to Ianto, hoping for the sympathy vote.

Ianto shrugged, looking faintly green. "He has a point Jack. The last time we went camping I was nearly made into sausage."

Jack sighed in frustration. "Look guys. Okay I know, camping's not exactly your thing-"

Owen choked on a snort.

"But, it'll be better. Nothing's going to happen. Just a routine weevil hunt. We're even on camping grounds."

Ianto looked around him disbelievingly.

"Well, on the edge at least. We're not that far out."

"Two hours." Ianto supplied. "With the roads in that shape."

"Which just means plenty of space and no one to bother us while we're bonding."

"Bonding?"

"We could try bondage if you prefer." Jack leered playfully, only to be met with twin icy stares.

"Fine. Fine. No bondage. Spoilsports. Come on. We're going to have fun. The girls are back at the hub making sure nothing happens, and we're out here learning to get along and have some fun together."

"I thought we were here to hunt weevils?" Owen had begun to dig through the bag, throwing more tent pegs haphazardly.

"And learning to get along." Jack insisted.

Ianto neatly sidestepped a peg, and glanced back at the SUV, as if plotting an escape route. "We get along fine."

"You're at each other's throats."

"So?" Owen brandished a peg to illustrate his point. "That's how we relate. We haven't killed each other...yet."

"Exactly. And after this fun weekend of teamwork and bonding you never will! Okay let's get the tent up!" He knelt down beside Owen and the abused bag.

The next five minutes were spent cursing and struggling with the sloppily packed tent. Finally it yielded up a small tattered instruction manual, the tent spilling out on the grass.

"Insert Tab A into Slot B? What the...where the fuck is Tab A and Slot B? Why don't they label these things? Harkness! I swear to God pieces are missing!"

"You don't even have it out of the bag." Jack tried to reason and rolled his eyes while Owen and the tent fought their epic battle. He glanced up as he saw Ianto complete a very short, pacing circuit, looking at the SUV again, hands on his hips in a nervous gesture.

"Ianto? We're going on a hike after we finish up here. Why don't you go get the map from the SUV while I help Owen? It's in the front."

"A hike?" Jack ignored Owen's howl of outrage, snapping two pipes together calmly, as Ianto jogged towards the SUV. He tried to calm the niggling sense of worry in the back of his head. Ianto was fine. He would calm down once the tents were set up, and he had worked off some of that energy. There was nothing out here, barring weevils, that could hurt the young man.

"You never said anything about a hike." Owen groused.

"Not just any hike. A weevil hunting hike!" Jack replied, grinning like mad, and turned back to the tent.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto beat a hasty retreat to the relative safety of the SUV, punching a button on the remote in his pocket so the tailgate rose up to meet him. He took a steadying breath, leaning his hip against the black metal while he sorted through his overnight bag. It wasn't so bad. His stomach hurt. A dull ache, and it felt as if he had steel bands wrapped around his head. But the rats were gone, for the moment. He doubted his hold would last long, stuck here in the country. He could feel the very beginnings of panic starting to nibble at the edges of his mind, and his muscles twitched and jumped with the constant need to move, run, get away. Panic was far scarier than rats.

The familiar prescription bottle rolled into his hands and he smiled gratefully, tapping out one pill against his palm. He stared at the tablet for a moment. Percodan. For depression. That why Dr. Brenson prescribed it. He couldn't be arsed really to research it himself. To take away the hurt and pain, the quiet panic and the overwhelming desire to simply go insane. Ianto hated it. It made him numb, as if he were wrapped in so many layers of cotton gauze. He lost time and smiled stupidly, It helped, but it was starting to fade more quickly. The pill he had taken this morning had already lost its edge.

Ianto popped the pill in his mouth, swallowing it before he had the chance to taste it. He tucked another into the corner of his jacket pocket in case he couldn't sneak back to the SUV later.

"Ianto!"

He stuffed the bag under Jack's greatcoat, and then swore as he realised he was still holding the pills. He pushed them under the coat as well, just as Jack rounded the door.

"Jack!" He mimicked his captain's tone and stretched his mouth into a smile.

"Don't tell me you got lost looking for the map. You're not that much of a city boy are you?"

"Of course not. I- I was just turning off my mobile. Don't want the battery going dead out here." Ianto said casually as he moved around to the front and retrieved the map from the glove compartment. He looked over and saw his phone sitting innocently in the passenger's seat. 'Shit'

"Right. Good thinking. That's my boy." Jack moved in with a grin and wrapped his arms around Ianto waist, pulling him in close for a kiss. Ianto responded enthusiastically, turning them around so Jack was pressed against the car door, trying to keep the other man from looking into the SUV.

Jack broke the kiss with a breathless grin. As he pulled back he glanced into the SUV and saw Ianto's phone lying on the seat. He looked at Ianto with a raised eyebrow.

Ianto raised an eyebrow in return, a small, reckless, part of his brain daring Jack to comment on the white lie. He handed Jack the map.

Jack frowned, but let it go. Again.

"Let's get back to Owen before he somehow manages to glare the tent down." Jack said instead.

Ianto allowed Jack to slide an arm around his waist, keeping him close as he steered them back to the campsite.

"I have no clue how he does it. It took me like one minute to get it up, much to Owen snarling that I cheated with alien tech."

Ianto listened to Jack ramble and sighed in relief as he felt the bands around his head loosen, and the ache in his stomach start to lessen. In a little while the medicine would kick in, and everything would be okay. Maybe he'd survive this trip after all.

Ianto pulled out of Jack's grip and bit back a laugh as they reached Owen. The doctor was tangled in a collapsed tent, looking utterly defeated. "Not. A. Word." Owen warned, shaking his leg free from the canvas and using Ianto to lever himself up. He snatched the map from Jack.

Ianto wondered if the doctor always reverted to a three year old when he was flustered.

Jack opened his mouth, but threw up his hands when Owen gave him a death glare.

"Hike. Now." Owen started off towards a small, marked path, without a backward glance, pulling his gun from its holster.

"You heard the man Ianto. Onward!"

Ianto shook his head at his lover's obvious enjoyment, but obediently followed, trailing close enough behind so that Jack wouldn't worry, but far enough away that he could be to himself, if only a little.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	4. Chapter 4

The hike itself was pleasant, as pleasant as it could be walking through the woods with guns drawn, playing hide and seek with primitive, violent, aliens.

Ianto used to enjoy the woods. Lisa had drug him out into them often enough, hiking, camping, and even biking once, though that hadn't ended very well. There was still a tiny white scar on his knee from that venture.

He had always planned to go camping again, even after Lisa. When he was bored with work he'd flip through the brochures in the tourist office, would plan out camping trips for the phantom customers that kept the shop looking legitimate.

Of course, none of his trips had included being nearly eaten by a pack of Welsh cannibals. That had put him off food entirely for a while. And his sleep actually. That had also been when he had started seeing Dr. Brenson, a local psychiatrist who handed out pills, and took retcon well. He knew Ianto Jones as a dissatisfied husband, a disgruntled employee, and a suicidal man. Suicide, Ianto learned, was the fastest ticket to the really good medication.

That had left a scar too. The cannibals, not the psychiatrist. Ianto snickered at the momentary confusion the statement caused.

That was Percodan for you.

It wasn't the cleaver, which surprised him. He had stumbled, later, getting out of the SUV. It had hardly been his fault. He had had a concussion, and his arms weren't working properly after being cuffed behind his back for so long. He had stumbled, right out of Jack's arms and planted his face into the cement of Torchwood Three's parking garage. His head had be gashed open, and he had been left with a tiny ragged scar right above his hairline. The look of surprise on Jack's face at his momentary gracelessness had nearly been worth it. So he wasn't perfect. Screw it.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, bringing his gun up as he remembered the reason he was out in the middle of the woods in the first place. Jack. Well weevils, but mainly Jack, who had snapped his fingers and expected to be obeyed. Ianto snickered as his inner five year old blew a raspberry at the mention of the captain. Ianto would forgive him eventually, knowing that it was too much for him to ask to stop and consider the teaboy's feelings every time Jack opened his mouth.

Speaking of Jack. Ianto quickened his pace. Jack and Owen were ahead of him by a good 30 meters. Owen complaining, loudly.

"I hate this! There's more bugs out here than flies on a corpse, there's no computers, there's no coffee! How am I supposed to function without coffee?" Jack was watching the trees, either ignoring the doctor or taking pleasure in his annoyance.

Ianto let his gun fall to his side, which was really a shame, he though distractedly a second later when he was staring up at the sky between the tree tops, a snarling weevil on his chest, pinning him to the ground.

Ianto, for one surreal moment lay blinking up at the weevil, before deciding to scream. The weevil lunged for his throat at the sound, and Ianto barely had time to throw his arm up to block the attack. He felt the teeth close around his forearm and screamed again.

Then there were gunshots, and screaming from people other than himself, and the body above him jerked, teeth still firmly clamped around its prey. Jack was suddenly there, face blocking out the sky.

The weight lifted from his chest as Jack hauled the weevil off, and Ianto felt himself jerk in response, arm following the alien's jaws.

"Jack. Stop! Stop! His teeth!" Jack knocked the butt of his gun against the injured weevil's head, making its mouth open in shock. Jack threw the weevil to the side, and Ianto turned his head, refusing to look as three more shots were fired, execution style. He felt a wet splatter against his thin jacket.

He heard a new voice cursing, and realised belatedly it wasn't his. He opened his eyes to see Owen standing beside him, gun wavering between the Welshman and the, probably dead, alien beside him.

He tried for an apologetic smile, trying to reassure the doctor he didn't need to be shot as well. "ow."

Owen became a flurry of motion "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck!" he swore as he dropped down next to him, hauling Ianto up and yanking off his jacket and over shirt to get to the bloody arm.

"Fuckity? Really?" Ianto gave a short almost hysterical giggle. "Oh dear. That was...unexpected. But I don't think it's too severe. It doesn't hurt that bad."

Owen gave him a brief, skeptical look, lips pressed together in a disapproving frown. "Shock." The doctor had apparently decided. "You're gonna be okay. I'm gonna fix you up. Then we'll get back to the hub, and think of some nice creative way of killing Jack for getting us out here." He was pressing against the arm, and making little concerned noises that sounded like swears.

"I heard that." Jack replied. Ianto craned his neck to see Jack, standing over the body of the weevil, gun pointed towards the woods. His smile seemed a bit too large. His voice a little too loud. "No killing the boss."

"Really I'm fine. I think I just had the wind knocked out of me mostly. It - It just stings. It's not bad." he caught sight of his arm. The bite marks were invisible under a flood of bright red blood. "...Or not." He stared in fascination; watching the sunlight glisten off the dark, wet leaves.

A loud ripping sound broke his concentration, and Ianto cried out in protest as Owen wrapped the wound in strips of Ianto's over-shirt.

"My shirt!"

"Shouldn't have got bit, mate." Owen didn't sound too apologetic, using the shirt to halt the blood flow. "Jack, we need to get him back to camp so I can get some proper bandages. Clean it out. See how bad it really is. I can't see a damn thing, but with the bleeding this bad..."

Owen didn't finish his sentence but Jack nodded sharply, not taking his eyes off the tree line as he reached down to help the doctor pull Ianto to his feet.

Ianto stumbled and focused his attention on his mildly throbbing arm, ignoring the murmur of conversation that could have been directed at him. His knee, his scalp, and now his arm. Yet another scar from the countryside. Maybe if he kept a scrapbook, nature wouldn't insist on giving him such mementos. He wondered why it didn't hurt more.


	5. Chapter 5

It was just a five-minute walk to the camp but Owen was worried. Ianto had only let Jack help him for a minute before pushing the other man off. He was walking steadily, trailing little droplets of blood where the makeshift bandage had already soaked up too much. He was even trying to smile reassuringly at Jack, though the occasional wince spoiled the effect. Owen had never seen shock set in this fast, not from an arm wound. It was somehow perverse for the doctor to be more worried than the patient.

Owen kicked out the sleeping bag lying beside the fire ring, and helped Jack carefully lay Ianto down. He grabbed his kit and knelt down beside the Welshman, and yanked on a set of gloves. Pulling out a pre-filled syringe, he pushed a piece of cloth out of the way. "Okay, you're just going to feel a quick prick, then the morphine should kick in soon and make everything better." He ripped open an alcohol pad using his teeth.

"Really I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that bad. I don't need drugs." Ianto insisted, trying to squirm away.

"That's the shock talking Yan. Once it wears off you're going to be screaming your head off for more drugs." Owen pushed him back down gently, swiped the crook of his arm with the pad and slid the needle in. He ignored Ianto's glare.

Jack knelt next to Owen and Ianto.

"What can I do?"

"Tell Owen I'm fine and let me get up?" Ianto asked.

Owen rolled his eyes and tossed Jack a bottle of sterile saline. He unraveled the strips of cloth. "There's blood everywhere. I can't see a fucking thing. I need you to empty this over his arm when I tell you. Try to wash away as much blood as you can. It'll flush it some and I'll be able to see how bad this really is. Ready?"

Jack nodded. Ianto shook his head. "No."

Owen pulled off the bandages. "Go."

Owen studied the wound quickly before the blood welled up again, and frowned. The blood felt watery against his gloved hand. He pushed a pressure bandage against the wound. Ianto swore and gasped in Welsh.

"Glad for those drugs now yeah? Give 'em some more time."

Owen turned to Jack's worried face. "It's not that bad. I mean, it's a weevil bite; of course it's bad. But its not life threatening. He's just bleeding like a stuck pig." It was the bleeding that worried Owen, he had already lost enough so that he would be feeling it, a lot more than he should have considering the wound. "But it's not as bad as it should be."

He had meant the last part for himself, and dismissed Jack's sharp look.

"Lets get this wrapped up and head back to the hub. I'm gonna have to put some stitches in, and I want to start antibiotics, because this is in no way a sterile environment to be practicing medicine."

Owen made little shooing motions when it looked like Jack was going to stay kneeling beside Ianto. The other man took the hint, and began quickly gathering up the smaller items to load in the SUV.

The doctor shook his head and turned back to his patient, wrapping long strips of sterile bandages around the wound. Ianto stared up at him seriously with glassy eyes. The morphine seemed to have taken effect.

"Least we get to go home yeah?" Owen tried bedside banter. "Might have to buy you a drink for that. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping out here."

Ianto didn't flinch as Owen pressed lightly on the arm, though he was shivering as if it were cold. Owen was growing more concerned as he watched Ianto. He was pale, and his reactions were extreme. Owen wrapped his fingers around Ianto's wrist, and his frown deepened. He'd expected Ianto's heart rate to be elevated from the shock and stress, but it was low, and his skin was cool.

"Jack! Hurry up! We have a fucking long drive ahead of us and I want Ianto back at the hub as soon as possible!" Owen barked over his shoulder.

"I'm hurrying!" Jack snapped when he came back into the clearing, casting an eye towards the two men by the fire ring.

"Get your coat on your next trip, will you. Or a blanket or something." Owen made the demand sound like a request. "He's acting cold" Jack nodded, sprinting back to the car with another armload. A moment later he returned with the coat, kneeling down to tuck it around Ianto himself. "For fuck's sake Jack. 'Hurry' means-" he stopped dead at the look on Jack's face.

"I found this with my jacket. It's under Ianto's name." Jack threw a prescription bottle at the doctor, and turned his attention back to Ianto as the younger man tried to burrow himself under the great coat. "I don't remember anything in his file about medication."

Owen read the label. He glanced up at Jack, and read it again just to be sure. He looked at Ianto, low pulse, breathing was slow and shallow, though he was still somewhat aware, and looking vaguely guilty. Owen dropped the bottle and grabbed Ianto's face ignoring his outraged squawk, and the streaks of blood his gloved hand was leaving on pale cheeks. He looked at the younger man's pupils, prying his eyelids open as Ianto tried to squeeze them shut. They were down to pinpricks, nearly invisible in a field of glazed blue. "Fuck! Ianto, you stupid little shit!"

"What is it?" Jack demanded.

"Forget the bags. Forget everything. We need to get to the hub now. He's going to overdose." Owen slung the medical bag over his shoulder, stuffing the bottle of pills inside. He yanked off the bloody gloves, throwing them to one side before sliding an arm under Ianto and pulling him up.

Jack froze for a second then cursed quietly in several languages that Owen was sure would not be heard by humanity for over a thousand years, He took Ianto from Owen and swung an arm under his legs. He pulled Ianto up against his chest, taking off for the SUV at a run.

Owen saw Ianto struggle, then try to pull him self out of Jack arms. "What the hell are you doing?" He demanded, wide eyed at the sudden chaos. Jack gently set him down next to the SUV, turning to Owen for instruction.

"Back. I might need the room to work." Owen snapped already pulling open the door and ripping things out, tossing them down on the ground.

"Jack! Owen!" Ianto's voice sounded strained, and slightly lost. "For God's sake this is insane! Stop it!"

Owen supposed Ianto was thinking of the clean up, or loss of supplies, or the fact that there was a dead weevil lying in the middle of a public hiking trail. Owen really couldn't bring himself to give a shit.

"Shut up! You've done quite enough, you just sit there and behave until we get you home and treated so I can kill you!" Owen barked while he tossed the last of the bags within reach down, and tossed his medical kit in.

"Put him in. Carefully." Owen climbed in, tucking himself close to the back seat.

Jack gently picked Ianto back up, though he nearly lost his grip as Ianto twisted in his arms, reaching around to snag jack's greatcoat from the ground. Jack slid Ianto in the back of the SUV, Owen guiding his shoulders.

Jack slammed the door shut, and sprinted to the drivers seat, foot hitting the gas pedal before his door had even closed.


	6. Chapter 6

Owen caught the Bluetooth as it hurtled towards his head. He slipped it on and tapped it. "Tosh" he commanded, and turned towards Ianto as the voice recognition dialed the right number.

"Jack we need to get back fast, but try to not kill us all doing it, yeah?" Owen said. And then he heard the phone being picked up. "Tosh! Ianto's hurt. There was a weevil attack and he's overdosing on morphine."

To her credit, Toshiko didn't yell or demand to know more, which Owen was thankful for.

"We're heading back, I need you to get ready for us, we're gonna pull up to the lift. We can't waste a second once we're back, so be waiting for us up top. Jack's driving so should be around a hour."

Owen tugged on the great coat, trying to move it out of the way. He had to yank it free from Ianto's hands. Then he saw a dazed look in Ianto's eyes that could have been anger or fear. He swore and rearranged the coat, wrapping Ianto's hand around one of the arms. "You pick the weirdest attachments, you know that?"

In his ear, Toshiko took advantage of his concentration on Ianto and started talking. "I thought the campsite was two hours away?"

"Like I said Jack's driving." Owen winced and closed his eyes after glancing up at the road. "We'll need a backboard at the lift, and anything we've got for poisonings in the infirmary." Owen took a brief instant to be thankful that he had bullied Jack into finally letting him set up a small infirmary. It seemed to be tempting fate to treat someone in the autopsy bay.

He quickly unfastened Ianto's belt, ducking out of the way as a defencive fist came towards him. "Oi! Yan, as luscious, as I'm sure you think your ass is," Owen joked hoping it would hide the worry, though he wasn't sure Ianto really cared at the moment. "I'm not really interested at the moment so calm down!" He held up his own hands non-threateningly, in Ianto's line of sight. "See. Just trying to make you comfortable." He moved down untying, and pulling off, Ianto's boots.

"Tosh? Check- Check the respirator. Have it beside the bed just in case. And have an ambubag with that backboard." He ended the call, cutting off an angry stream of Japanese. He had no idea what the hell Toshiko was saying, but he couldn't have agreed more with the tone.

He pulled the thin emergency blanket from his kit, and spotting a bag that hadn't been thrown out, Ianto's overnight of course, he shoved it under the younger man's knees before covering him with the blanket and Jack's coat. He started checking Ianto's vitals again.

"How's he doing?" Jack asked tightly. Owen met his eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Pulse is 50, blood pressure is 80 over 60, breathing slow and shallow, pupils are nearly non-existent, and he seems to be zoned out, or at least he's not complaining about your driving." Ianto glared up at him briefly, and Owen revised his opinion. "Strike that. He doesn't like the fact that I called him a whiner." Owen patted Ianto briefly on the shoulder. "And he's snuggling your coat like a baby blanket." He added, hoping to get a rise out of the other man.

"You're throwing me around like a bag of laundry, and making a bloody huge mess. And I am not! It's cold! It's not even that bad." Ianto added, trying to wave his arm to illustrate the point, and frowning as it became tangled in the blankets.

Owen rolled his eyes, grabbing Ianto's wrist through the jacket to keep his arm still. "No of course it doesn't hurt. Because you're stoned nearly to death. You're feeling no pain." Owen tightened his grip on the wrist. "Stop moving. You idiot. I'm not wasting a rant on you now, because when you're sober, and will remember every word, I'm going to rip you a new one, like you will not believe!"

Ianto made a sound that was suspiciously close to a giggle. Perhaps Owen wasn't as threatening as he thought.

Owen sighed and sank back against the side of the SUV, eyes trained on Ianto. He continued the conversation, trying to keep Ianto at least somewhat aware. "So are you going to tell us what the hell you were thinking? How many did you take? Where did you even _get_ those pills?"

It took a moment for Ianto to process the rapid-fire questions. He grinned. "Shop down the street. The pharmacist is gorgeous."

In the front seat Jack snickered despite himself.

"How many did you take?"

Ianto shrugged. "Can't remember." Owen wondered if he was even trying. Ianto's eyes kept sliding toward the right, watching the treetops rush by the window.

"Those are powerful pain relievers Yan. Why did you get them? Are you hurting?" Owen racked his brain for instances of the younger man showing some sign of chronic pain. He couldn't think of a single example. He had seen him rubbing his back a lot, but they all did that. Dangers of working Torchwood: Cardiff.

"Pain. Constant. Never goes away. Rats. Always there. Gnawing away..."

"...Rats? What the fuck do rats have to do with Percodan?"

"Inside me. The pain never stops." He said freely, but matter-of-factly. "Never goes away. It's like I'm trapped in a dark room, there's no light, nothing to protect me from… from..." Ianto frowned as he lost his thought and gazed up at the ceiling. He didn't seem to be too upset by the revelation.

"So...you're depressed?" Owen rubbed his face, and then rested his arms on his knees. It could never be something easy. What he wouldn't give for a little severe back pain. "Ianto if you're depressed you could have come to me. I know I'm an arsehole, but I'm still your doctor and I would have helped you. At least then I'd know what the hell you were taking."

"Just pills."

"They're fucking Oxycodone you moron! That's not 'just pills'." Owen prided himself in not yelling, though he spoke loud enough to get his point across.'

"Not." Ianto muttered

"What?"

"Not Oxy- ox-" Ianto stumbled over the word.

Owen paused, and made his voice quiet again as a suspicion entered his mind.

"Yan, you knew Percodan was just a trade name for Oxycodone right?"

A small sparkle of fear lit Ianto's eyes before they slid up to stare at the ceiling, distracted from the conversation.

"Shit." Owen reached over and grabbed his face turning his head towards him, brushing his fingers over the dried streaks of blood he had put there. "You're out of it now, but believe me, mister, we're going to be having this conversation later, and much louder when you're not dying!"

"Dying?" Ianto looked up at him, eyes going impossibly wide, pupils lost in the blue.

"I was being dramatic. You'll be fine."

Ianto blinked and looked at him again. "Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you on the ceiling?"

"I'm not on the ceiling Yan." Owen braced himself as Jack took a corner too fast. Ianto slid and bumped against his knee.

"O-Owen. Is the room shaking? Earthquake! The cells. The Weevils, they'll get loose."

Owen groaned and pushed on Ianto's shoulders to keep from sitting up.

"Jack how are we doing?"

"Fast as I can." Jack said quietly. Owen glanced up, and saw the guilt In Jack's eyes. So the great Harkness didn't know everything then. Had it been any other time, and without the memories of a cyber-girl in the basement, Owen would have been impressed at Ianto's skill.

"Ianto calm down, it's okay, there's no Earthquake, you're gonna be fine."

"Weevils." Ianto insisted, still fighting against the blanket holding him down.

Owen made soothing noises and covered Ianto's eyes with his hand. The effect was immediate, like throwing a sheet over a birdcage. Ianto calmed, and the restless movements slowed to a stop.

Once Ianto drifted off to sleep, Owen sagged against the side of the car, and looked up at Jack, meeting his eyes again. "Eyes on the road! For Christ's sake are you trying to kill us all?" he hissed sharply.

Jack swung back around and watched the road. "I- I didn't know he was doing that bad. He hides things so well..."

"Yeah man of mystery, our Ianto. Lucky, luck us." Owen wondered if Jack thought he was really going to blame his captain. Not Jack's fault Ianto was a secretive bastard.

"How is he doing? Really? How bad is this?"

"It's... not good. Vitals are all down. There's nothing I can do till we get him back to the hub, and I can start IV medication and fluids. Maybe pump his stomach, though it's most likely too late for that. I have no clue how much he's taken, or when he last had any."

"Before the hike." Jack interrupted. "I snuck up on him, and he made up some story about his cell phone."

"Did he swallow the pill whole or chew it?"

"I don't know. I didn't even see the bottle."

"Shit. Well, we'll get some charcoal in him. That'll help. Hopefully."

"But he's going to live." It wasn't a question and Owen wished that Jack really could force his will in the matter.

Owen didn't say anything and refused to look at him when Jack glanced sharply over his shoulder. "Right?" Jack demanded

"I- I can't say yes. This is serious Jack." Owen couldn't look up at Jack as he spoke. He fussed with the edges of the jacket, tucking them around Ianto.

"I'm doing everything I can, but I won't lie to you. It looks bad. The pills he was taking, Percodan? They're oxycodone, which is pain medication. That explains all the blood. It's a thinner. Percodan's not for depression. I've only seen it used that way once, and the guy was pretty much a vegetable already. It was a mercy kill to keep him stoned. A lot of people abuse it though, get it off the street corner, or script mill doctors." Owen realized he was rambling.

"Then I gave him morphine. I thought he was in shock. His arm looked bad, and he was showing all the signs. We're seeing the interaction, but it acts just like a morphine overdose. That comes with a long list of possible systems, of which he's quickly moving through. And the bleeding didn't help... "

Owen laid his fingers against Ianto's neck, feeling the fluttering pulse under pale, cold skin.

"Percodan doesn't act fast. I'm guessing he took some even earlier. That's what's causing the reaction. If he popped a pill while he was getting the map, and didn't chew it to bypass the controlled release... shit, that hasn't even hit yet."

"It's going to get worse?"

"He's overdosing on oxycodone and morphine, what the fuck do you expect Jack?"

Jack stared ahead, concentrating fully once more on the road ahead of him.

Owen looked closer at Ianto and swore, though he'd been expecting it. He reached out, unearthing Ianto's injured arm. " Lips and fingernails are turning blue. Breathing is down further." He checked the bandages. "The bleeding's stopped, though that's really the least of our problems."

Jack didn't comment.

Owen rubbed his face and sank back, watching closely as Ianto slept.

"It's going to get worse, and there's not a fucking thing I can do."


	7. Chapter 7

Jack tapped his Bluetooth off disconnecting himself from the hub.

He had spent the last moments with one eye on Ianto, and one on the road, while on the phone with Gwen and Tosh. He hated being leader sometimes, when it meant he had to deal with annoying details. No matter what else happened there was still a dead weevil laying out in the open, and equipment scattered about the countryside, some if it branded with Torchwood's logo. Ianto usually took care of those details, cleaning up and erasing evidence. And he was damn good at it. There had been times when Jack had come back from a field mission to find that, for all intents and purposes, it had never happened. Tosh was nearly as good though and had some good ideas, already putting out an alert about highly toxic fumes at the site, with Torchwood, of course, responding. No one would go within miles.

He heard Owen shift in the back, stretching as much as he could in the cramped space, and sigh tiredly. Owen had been cleaning the blood off Ianto's face as the younger man slept, using the tail of his shirt and some water from a bottle that had been rolling around the back.

"How's he doing?"

"Still breathing." Owen didn't elaborate.

"I should have known. I should have seen this coming somehow." Jack muttered.

"Well yeah, you are sleeping with him." Owen shot back.

Jack scowled, but Owen did have a point. He didn't answer, letting the other man continue

"How the fuck could this happen? I thought we all agreed to keep a closer eye on him after that whole apocalypse-in-the-basement thing! How could we _all_ miss this? How could _I_ miss this? How could not one of us notice that he was this fucked up?" Jack watched in the rear view mirror as Owen pressed his head against his knees. He sounded like he was in physical pain.

"At least," Jack began, trying to find some sort of positive side to the whole mess. "At least he was trying to get help, even if he did it badly. That's something right?"

"Shut up Jack. He didn't even know what the fuck he was taking!"

"Well I did say he was doing it badly..."

Owen sighed and continued to watch Ianto, and Jack didn't miss the small touches he continued to leave on the younger man.

"I fucked him once you know. Over your desk. While you were pissing about with your Doctor. ...And my desk. And Tosh's. And Gwen's. I tried for the autopsy table but he wasn't having it."

Jack blinked and stared at the road for a minute. That was… surprising.

"How long have you two been-"

"It was just that one night. We never mentioned it again. Pretended it didn't happen. For all I know he washed it down with retcon."

"So you really..."

"Yeah."

"And you're telling me that why...?"

"To annoy you. But more importantly, so that you don't start beating yourself up over the fact that you didn't know about this."

Jack tried to protest, but Owen silenced him with a knowing look.

"Casual sex doesn't automatically mean you know everything about a person."

"It's not casual."

Owen looked skeptical. "Well the theory still holds. It's not your fault Jack."

"I should have known." Jack persisted.

"Can you think of anything? Any hint or signs that there was something wrong?"

Jack made a frustrated noise. "I don't know. I- maybe he's been a little...colder. More distant?"

"You mean that failed attempt at a snog earlier? You're lucky he didn't go for the balls, you insensitive bastard." Owen's tone was more amused than angry.

"Yeah I know. It was a stupid thing to say, but he used to call me on stuff like that. And give me instant coffee as punishment."

Owen winced in sympathy. "Right before that he zoned out. We were bickering and he just...disappeared into his head for a few minutes, then put down my coffee cup and walked away. I should have checked him out then. Maybe I would have noticed the pupils, or his pulse, or something and this wouldn't have happened. He wasn't all there, and I just let him walk off. What the hell kind of doctor am I?"

"I'm the one who should have noticed." The captain countered. "Like you said, I'm sleeping with him, I knew something wasn't right but I just let it go. I didn't want to bring it up, so I decided he could handle it himself" Jack gripped the steering wheel, and rephrased Owen's own question "What the hell kind of lover am I?"

Owen shook his head sharply and glared at the sleeping Welshman. "We shouldn't be blaming ourselves. We should be blaming this idiot, who wouldn't talk to anyone, went to some quack who would fling pills at him, and didn't even Google the goddamn things!"

"Owen he's dy- He's sick. We shouldn't be blaming him."

"Oh yes we bloody well should be! He wouldn't be _dying_, if he had come to me, so I could give him something that would've actually helped. He didn't talk to his lover, or his doctor, or his friends or his co-workers! He didn't. He didn't come to any of us, and we weren't there for him. " Owen slammed a free hand on his medical kit and heard the rattle of pills. As if remind of their presence, he pulled the bottle from his bag and checked the refill date before spilling them in his hand, counting them quickly. "He had it filled two days ago and six fucking pills are gone! Idiot!" Owen let out a harsh laugh. "Better an overdose than dealing with an addict later though, yeah? No one gets shot trying to save an OD." The pills were scooped back into the bottle, and thrown to one corner. "He could've fucking told us."

"We know now." Jack tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, beating back the panic that the sight of Ianto's still body created. "We know, and we're helping. It's all we can do."

He turned back to the road as Owen began checking Ianto's vitals, becoming focused solely on the younger man once more. Jack kept his eyes ahead, and tried not to think about anything other than getting them home.


	8. Chapter 8

Owen leaned forward, laying one hand on Ianto's blanket covered chest, the other hovering over his mouth and nose. Ianto's breathing was getting worse, slow and hitching. The blue cast to Ianto's lips was becoming more apparent. Owen gently shook the younger man's shoulders.

"Yan? Come on Ianto, wake up for me." Owen continued the shake Ianto with no effect. He tapped his cheek and had the same results. Finally, Owen pressed down on his wounded arm and Ianto's eyes slid open to reveal a muddled glare.

"What?" The word was nearly buried under Ianto's thick accent, but the annoyance shone through.

"I need you to breathe me for okay?"

" 'm breathing." Ianto protested. "Still talking."

"Yeah. Yeah. Just concentrate on taking deep breaths for me. Breathe as deep as you can." Owen frowned as Ianto made an obvious effort, chest hardly rising any more than before.

"That's good. Keep it up. Your breathing reflex isn't working right at the moment, from the drugs, so you have to stay awake and focus on breathing. Think you can do that?"

Ianto opened his mouth to argue, but gasped instead, breathing in a sharp lungful of air as his eyes rolled back into his head. Owen barely had time to brace Ianto's shoulders as the younger man started to convulse beneath him.

"Shit!" Owen pushed down harder, shifting all of his weight into keeping Ianto from hurting himself. He lurched forward as Jack slammed on brakes, and his head banged into Ianto's.

"Goddammit Harkness now is not the fucking time!" he yelled. "There's nothing you can do. Drive!"

As he scrambled to reaffirm his hold on the seizing body, Owen saw Jack flinch but the captain stamped back down on the gas, tires squealing loudly as they took off again.

As quickly as the seizure had started, it stopped and Ianto was staring up at him. Confused, and terrified. He was still shaking.

"What- what happened? Owen? Oh- oh god!" his chest was now heaving, though he seemed to be getting even less air than before.

"Ianto calm down. It's ok. You're ok, it's going to be fine." Owen lied though his teeth as he started quickly examining Ianto again, trying to keep the tremors out of his own hands.

"You're fine." He reassured again. Patient was conscious, voice clear with no signs of slurring, recognized faces, aware of his surroundings, and scared out of his fucking mind.

"You're fine, Yan."

It didn't help. Ianto was panicking.

Owen thought back to his rotation through pediatrics, pulling up all the old tricks he had used to calm the scared children he treated there.

"Ianto? Come on, calm down! Deep breaths ok?" He caught the flailing arms, tucking them back beneath Jack's coat. He ran a hand through Ianto's hair, combing through the gelled curls.

"I just need you to calm down for me Yan." He slid his other hand beneath the coat and blanket, and underneath Ianto's shirt, pressing his hand against the twitching muscles of the younger man's stomach. He began to rub slow gentle circles across Ianto's belly, while making what he hoped were soothing sounds.

"Yan, come on please. Please. I promise, you're okay."

Owen continued to pet and soothe Ianto, feeling as if he were confronting a scared animal. He winced as he felt Ianto's stomach muscles jump and twitch more violently, Nausea he'd wager. The one fucking symptom they hadn't had yet. He really didn't want to be dealing with this while kneeling in a puddle of vomit.

"Come on, it's okay, everything's okay, just relax. Calm. Relax. Come on..." Owen continued to talk, saying anything that came to mind that he thought might work.

It was several minutes before Ianto quieted down and fell back to sleep, breath hitching before it settled down into a shallow unsteady rhythm.

Owen sagged in a guilty sense of relief. As a doctor he could deal with symptoms, diseases, bloody stupid accidents like this. He hated the fact that he was necessary at all, but he could deal with it.

None of his training had prepared him for Ianto though, or the fear he felt for the younger man as he looked into those eyes and lied to him, telling him that he would be all right.

Part of him hoped that if the Welshman was going to die, and at this point is was too fucking likely, that he would stay asleep until it was over. Stay where he wouldn't be scared, and where he wouldn't turn those frightened blue eyes on Owen again, asking him to perform a miracle.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack stared at the space ahead of him, barely noticing the empty roads, or the flashing blue lights at the intersections. The police were keeping the roads clear, and probably cursing Torchwood. Again. There were perks to being the least secret butmost powerful secret organisation around.

Most of his attention was focused on the two men in the back. Ianto, the young man he considered his lover, lying so quiet and still. But then Ianto had always been quiet. Not usually so still though.

His attention was yanked back to the road as he swerved to miss a cat. Ianto, he thought distractedly, would kill him if he found out he had run over cat.

"You know they put dogs on antidepressants." Owen said from the back. Jack accepted the non-sequitor. The doctor had a tendency to babble when working. Probably something he had picked up in the hospital. Patients always trusted a doctor who would talk to them.

"Reconcile. Bloody stupid name. Made by the same guys who gave the world Prozac. Little beef flavored pills for pets with separation anxiety. You do leave Ianto behind in the hub a lot. So I guess it's kind of the same. Well, I think Ianto's got different issues than a poodle, but the basic principle applies."

Jack shot Owen a questioning look over his shoulder quickly. Owen's doctor-babble usually wasn't quite so weird.

Owen shrugged. "Just saying... And you know some owner's just pop a Prozac into the kibble, like Ianto takes whatever. Doesn't matter if it's actually meant to be used that way. Maybe it would work better for him if I treated him like a poodle."

Jack tried to follow Owen down the odd path he had taken. "But if you treat him like a poodle, you can't make any more jokes about him being my lap dog." Jack tried to reason. "He'd have to be yours."

"Should probably stop the lap dog jokes anyway. He's gonna get fed up and just piss on my leg soon. But I know a great place to get a nice collar and leash. Something sparkly. He'll like that."

"...kinky. I approve." Jack laughed, but in his mind he marveled at the surrealism of the conversation. Ianto was dying and they were joking about bondage games. A bizarre coping method, but at least it was better then going crazy, or getting drunk off his ass...not that he could really do that at the moment, but still. It was better, he considered, glancing at Ianto, than popping pills until everything went numb.

"I think blue, to match his eyes. Maybe the kind of glitter in it," Owen continued.

"That'd be pretty."

"Yeah. Hell on earth though, getting him to go along with- Fuck!"

Jack flinched as he heard Owen curse loudly, but couldn't look back, fighting to control the SUV as he sped towards the hub.

"Owen? What's happening back there?"

"Jack, please tell me we're almost there!" Owen sounded desperate, his voice cracking with strain.

"A few more minutes! What's going on?"

"He's seizing again!"

Jack cursed, bearing down on the gas pedal, though he was already going as fast as the SUV would allow. He focused all of his attention on handling the vehicle as he listened to the sounds of struggling, and Owen's gasps as he fought to keep Ianto restrained.

The back went silent and Jack risked a quick glance, relieved to see Ianto lying still once more. His relief vanished as Owen put a hand over Ianto's mouth and nose, swearing again. The doctor took a deep breath and sealed his lips over Ianto's.

"Owen?"

"Not breathing!" Owen snapped, continuing to work, forcing more air into Ianto's lungs. "Drive!"

Hours seemed to pass, thought it was probably less than a minute before Jack saw the familiar fountain, and the two women

standing in front of it. He drove right up on the sidewalk, stopping inches from Gwen, and barely threw the SUV into park. He hit the button to open the rear door as he leapt out. He passed Tosh and snatched the ambubag from her hands, throwing it in to Owen. The doctor caught it mid air and placed it over Ianto's mouth, without breaking the rhythm of artificial breaths. "Tosh help Owen. Gwen help me. Someone needs to stay with the car." He felt like a heartless bastard, but Ianto would have his head for leaving it on the Plaas for anyone to take.

"I will." Gwen offered quietly.

"Good."

Owen kept pumping the bag, "Okay, Tosh," he said, gasping for breath as his lungs learned to work for just one again. "Get back here. I need you to keep squeezing the bag just like this while Jack and I get him on the board and move him" Tosh scurried into the back and got into position, Owen bending over Ianto so she could move behind him and take his place. Gwen had brought over the backboard and helped Jack slide it into the SUV on the other side of Ianto's body.

Owen yanked off the greatcoat and emergency blanket, sliding his arms under Ianto's shoulders and back. Jack supported Ianto's waist and legs, while Gwen took his feet.

"On three!" Owen ordered. "One, two, three!" They moved quickly, getting Ianto onto the backboard, then to the lift, sinking silently into the hub.


	10. Chapter 10

Jack sat by Ianto's bedside, half listening to the ipod that had been hooked up to the speakers. Tosh had brought it, mentioning something about familiar sounds and custom play lists. Jack vaguely remembered her explaining how she had used star ratings and play counts to find Ianto's favourites. Funny that, Jack had never figured the man for a Broadway fan. He knew Ianto would be touched by the effort when he woke up, if slightly embarrassed.

His eyes flicked up to the monitors; again, wanting to reassure him self Ianto wasn't as dead as he looked. Gray and still, with a shadow of a beard and unruly hair. Jack was incredible grateful, that Owen had threatened had railed at him until he had signed off on a new, state-of-the-art infirmary. He didn't want to think about them having to try to treat Ianto in the autopsy bay, with whatever spare equipment Owen had acquired over the years. He didn't want to imagine Ianto on a dissection table, looking like he did now.

Jack shifted, relieving the pain in his leg from sitting still too long. He hadn't felt his feet in awhile.

It'd been two days. Two hellish days of Owen frantically working to try to save Ianto. He was still unconscious, but at some point Owen had decided that Ianto would live, at least until the doctor decided to kill him. He had started running interference, keeping his teammates from underfoot with reassurances that 'Ianto's doing better, and would you all please back the fuck off already?'

He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to remember. But despite himself, his eyes squeezed shut and he could see it playing like a horrible movie behind his eyelids. Ianto seizing again on the lift, nearly throwing them all off of the platform as they pinned him to the paving stone. Lifting him onto the gurney that had been waiting. Tosh had climbed up on the gurney with Ianto, straddling his hips and pumping air steadily into lungs that could no longer function, and they had headed to the infirmary at a run. Why had they put it so far away from the main hub? There had been a good reason, Jack was sure.

IVs, stomach pumps, charcoal, medications, it was all a blur for Jack, but he prayed that it had worked. Ianto had been in and out of it, not quite all there at any point since he'd gone to sleep on the long, desperate drive back. He hadn't breathed for himself for hours. Jack was terrified he might never wake up. Even though Owen said he would. He was just so still. The guilt gnawed at him. Why hadn't he noticed? He'd always prided him self on being a people person. On talking to people, getting to know them. And yet he hadn't realised he man he loved was this sick?

"Oi! Broody. Coffee's here."

He glanced up as an exhausted looking Owen came in and handed him a mug. He hesitated and took a sip, then winced. Owen obviously hadn't been improving his coffee making skills.

"Don't give me that. It's got caffeine ain't it?" He drank from his own mug, bracing himself and indulging in a full body shudder. Jack knew the feeling. "God I miss Ianto's coffee... I don't know what he does. I swear if I wasn't so addicted to the stuff myself I'd test it for alien compounds, or crack or something."

Jack snorted. "So where have you been?"

"Now that he's stable, I went to see that Dr. Brenson that Ianto's been going to. Fucking quack." Owen snarled. "Had some lovely therapy. Screamed my self nearly horse, then retconned his ass back to the Stone Age. He's managing a Jubilees Pizza in London. The worst he can do is clog innocent arteries. I doubt he'd even recognize a prescription pad if he saw one."

Jack hid his smile behind the bitter coffee. Owen had become protective of their young Welshman rather quickly. "That's good. I was going to visit tomorrow. My plan involved taking Myfanwy for walkies though, with some barbecue sauce."

Owen choked on his coffee, drowning a laugh. "You are an evil man Harkness. Wish I'd thought of that."

Jack set his mug down on the night table and watched Ianto closely, picking up his hand, hoping for any sign he was still in there. "He looks rather peaceful doesn't he?" "Yeah well wait till he's shoving a gun in your face and screaming his head off for Percodan."

"What?" Jack tightened his hold on Ianto's limp hand.

"He's been on large doses for a while now. He's going to go though withdrawal. Just like any drug user." Owen sighed and pressed the heel of his hand into his eyes. "As if we haven't had enough fun yet, right?"

"But...he's not a junkie!" Jack protested. It had been an accident. Ianto had just been trying to get help.

"Doesn't have to be. You use anything addictive long term and you're gonna go through withdrawal. Look at us. Two days and we're getting twitchy because Ianto's not supplying us with bottomless coffee cups, and that's just caffeine. Ianto's going to go bat shit crazy wanting his drugs."

Jack gave him a horrified look.

Owen sighed. "Jack, he's going to be ok. He's survived the worst of it now, and he'll survive the withdrawal. Just like he'll survive Gwen and Tosh smothering him, and you treating him like he's made of glass. It's just a matter of waiting for his lazy arse to wake up so I can kick it for scaring the shit out of all of us like that." Owen paused. "And there's that very long, loud lecture I promised him." A small, but dangerous smile reached his mouth.

"Oh yes. That's really going to make me want to wake up." Ianto's horse whisper, tinged with a heavy accent floated from the bed. "Failed your bedside manner class, I presume?" Both men's heads jerked sharply up towards Ianto's face. He watched them tiredly.

"Ianto! You're awake!" Jack was out of his chair and leaning in over Ianto, a huge grin on his face, his hands brushing carefully over Ianto's face and tangling in his hair.

"Hey." Ianto breathed.

"Hey." Jack replied, dipping in and pressing a kiss to the corner of Ianto's mouth, torn and bruised from where the breathing tube had been secured.

"Oi! Stop molesting the patients." Owen roughly shoved Jack out of the way and started checking Ianto over. "Good morning, Idiot." He greeted him. "How are you feeling?"

"Rather...dreadful."

"No shit. You nearly died. Because you went to some fucking quack excuse for a doctor, didn't tell me what medication you were taking, and I ended up overdosing you after you got your self mauled while you were up to your eyeballs in Oxycodone." Owen was very quickly getting up to foaming-at-the-mouth rage as he ranted, though his hands were still gentle as he checked the stitches on Ianto's arm.

Ianto looked up at Owen through his lashes, and Jack immediately recognized that particular expression. It often showed up when Ianto was trying to make himself look harmless and contrite. Jack wondered if Owen could resist it better than he could. "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble, Owen. Thank you for taking care of me."

That took the wind out of Owen's sails, and Jack smirked as the doctor visibly deflated. Chalk up one more victim to the Ianto Jones' Puppy Dog Eyes.

To Owen's credit he rallied quickly, tucking Ianto's arm back under the covers. "Fine, but next time we're snogging in the backseat I fully expect you to follow through."

Ianto gave Jack a panicked look, and the monitoring equipment protested at the sudden spike.

"I think the technical term is mouth to mouth resuscitation." Jack reassured him, sounding amused.

Owen smirked as Ianto blushed, and concentrated on the machines' readouts for another minute before starting yawn.

Jack gently pulled the doctor back, away from the bed. "I think you need to go get some sleep. Have you gotten more then an hour or two in the last two days?"

Owen resolutely did not look Jack in the eye.

"Thought so. Now that Ianto's awake-" He looked over to see Ianto's eyes sliding shut, before snapping open again. "…mostly. Why don't you go get some rest?"

"Owen's going home?" Ianto looked a little nervous at proclamation, and Jack filed that piece of information away.

"It's fine. He's crashing in my bed."

"What about you?"

"I'm staying here."

"...your bed?" Ianto's eyes widened. "Did you change the sheets?"

Jack lightly banged his head against the wall.

Owen snickered before taking a deep breath and rubbing his hands over his face. "I'll be down in Jack's room, catching a short nap. If anything, and I mean anything changes, call me! And I'm talking 'sneezing funny' level of changes. I have the laptop set up with the CCTV running."

Jack gave him a look. "You're supposed to be getting some sleep."

"Well if I trusted you not to coddle him, I could!" Owen snapped, grabbing his coffee mug, sloshing more out on the floor. He stomped out of the small room muttering about annoying sheep-fucking Welsh men, and their lousy pathetic looking eyes.

"He means that with love." Jack clarified, shutting the door in Owen's wake.

Ianto gave a doubtful hum.

"Do I really coddle?" Jack asked, turning to face the bed.

Ianto looked faintly amused. "It's in your nature, Sir." Ianto shifted and winced slightly, opening his eyes to see Jack already back at his side. "Not that I'm complaining."

He smiled and pulled Jack down gently for a kiss.

"I really am sorry," He murmured, pressing his face against Jack's neck as the kiss broke, burrowing into the familiar scent.

"I know." Jack whispered back, kissing him lightly on the ear. He grinned wickedly "Though I think you're still in trouble with Owen." He laughed as Ianto made a worried noise against his throat.


	11. Chapter 11

Jack propped himself up against Owen's desk keeping an eye on Ianto as the younger man kept himself busy near the coffee pot. Jack looked at his mug, nearly empty, and wondered not for the first time if it was some type of spy gadget that alerted Ianto to an impending lack of caffeine. He looked back up at Ianto.

"You don't have to watch him like a hawk, you know. He's doing better." Owen commented, though Jack knew he had been watching the Welshman too. It was second nature now, after a long, hard month, and things were finally settling down into a new sort of normal.

"Oh like you can talk. You were the one who decided to make him report back to you every time he so much as bumped his head." Jack snorted in amusement. "Bet you weren't counting on the fact that he'd give himself paper cuts just to annoy you."

"Yeah well, as we've learnt, he's lousy at taking care of him self. If we don't do it, no one will." Owen spun a pen on his fingers.

Jack nodded, and schooled his expression into one of concerned thoughtfulness. "Yeah..._we_ do need to take care of Ianto. He's ours." Jack stressed the plural.

Owen's head shot up, the pen fell, and he gave Jack a speculative look.

Jack just smiled serenely and tipped his mug up, draining the last dregs of coffee. He raised his eyebrows innocently before pointedly turning towards Ianto, who had descended the stairs and was heading towards them.

Before Owen could say anything, Ianto was there, replacing Jack's coffee, and accepting a thankful kiss with good humour. He snagged two of Owen's empty mugs, then he leaned over to retrieve the fallen pen and replaced it between Owen's fingers before disappearing again without a word, though Jack would bet even money he was smirking.

When Ianto moved off again Owen tilted his head thoughtfully. "Do you think it would be too creepy if I superglued a lo-jack to his back?" Jack wasn't about to admit that he had the same urges recently.

"...maybe. A little." Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "We've got something in the archives. It's from around my time, nano-tech. It monitors vitals, location, that kind of stuff."

"Like smart-chips for pets?" Owen asked, grinning. Jack thought back to their strange conversation in the SUV.

"Pretty much. I don't normally suggest using future technology like this, but I've been thinking about it for a while. Maybe we should…"

"Get it. Now."

Jack laughed.

"Fine. But you're telling Ianto and the others, and I'm putting all the blame on you." Jack warned making his way to his office to fetch the trackers.

"Yeah, yeah blame the doctor, whatever works." He heard Owen mutter, as the doctor grabbed a video game and leaned back, throwing his feet up on the desk.

-

Ianto dumped Owen's dirty mugs into the sink. The doctor tended to collect them if not supervised, and hadn't willingly cleaned one since Ianto started working there. Ianto had let them sit once, as a protest, but Owen had just started stacking them into a pyramid, and eventually Ianto ran out of clean cups.

He turned his attention to making Owen a fresh cup, distractedly scratching at the fresh scars through his jacket sleeve. They still itched sometimes, and looked ghastly. One looked, for all the world like a smiley face, though Owen had said that was probably from Jack trying to yank the weevil off.

It'd been a month since his overdose in the woods. A very long, sometimes terrifying month. As Owen had promised there had been a lot of yelling and lecturing on the importance of talking to your doctor. And when he was finished, and managed to keep Ianto sane through his Oxycodone withdrawal, he'd started him on a prescription for antidepressants.

It wasn't perfect. They had nearly driven each other mad finding the right dosage, and he still had moments when he felt the rats gnawing away, or had to escape into the tunnels and just freak out quietly. Life wasn't suddenly perfect and warm and cozy, or anything like that, but things were slowly, steadily improving.

Ianto reached over, tipping the creamer into the cup until the coffee turned nearly tan and then added a splash of rum.

The pain and misery wasn't all consuming anymore. He could actually laugh and joke and feel genuinely happy again. Gwen was still smothering him, wanting to talk about his feelings. Tosh alternated between coddling him, and running interference when the other's got too mother hen-ish. Jack had learnt quickly that Ianto wouldn't put up with the captain treating him like fine porcelain.

Owen though. The man had developed a protective streak that Ianto couldn't shake. The worst thing was he couldn't stub his toe without Owen wanting to hear about it. It seemed Owen was convinced he couldn't take care of him self at all. ...not that he didn't have some reason to believe that. The overdose had been a rather spectacular screw up on his part and Ianto had been mortified when he was fully lucid and not in a medical haze. He couldn't believe he had gotten to a point where he was popping Oxycodone like breath mints.

But things were better now, and it didn't do anyone any good to dwell.

Ianto looked down to see Owen engrossed in a video game, feet on his desk. He grinned, and flicked his eyes over to Jack's office to see the other man watching him intently. Jack returned the grin, and Ianto held a finger up to his lips and winked, before placing Owen's coffee cup on his tray, and quietly descending the stairs.

He made his way slowly to Owen's desk, staying out of his field of vision, and sliding up behind the other man. Owen was completely oblivious. Ianto leaned in, putting his lips near Owen's ear. He paused for a moment, giving Owen one last chance before whispering a quiet, "Boo!"

The results were impressive. Owen yelled and nearly knocked him self out of his chair, feet clattering to the floor. Ianto stepped back quickly, lifting the tray to safety above Owen's head. The doctor spun around and clutched his chest dramatically, glaring daggers at Ianto. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Feet down. Keep them there."

Owen scowled and put his feet back up, deliberately challenging Ianto. "Why should I?"

Ianto responded immediately, schooling his face into a serious expression " I have access to every single alien poison, drug, and piece of refuse that comes through the Rift, as well as being the only one who knows how to operate the coffee machine. Do you ever want to feel safe around a cup again?"

Owen paused as if considering the threat and lowered his feet to the floor with a look that swung between annoyance, and an odd sort of pride, though Ianto wasn't quite sure where that particular emotion came from.

"Fine." Owen groused.

Ianto handed over the steaming mug with a smirk. He had just started to walk off when Owen stopped him, calling his name.

"Yes?" He turned, frowning slightly at Owen's own smirk.

"I never got around to taking you out for the drink I promised, for getting us out of the camping trip from hell."

To Ianto's credit he only froze for a second before he overrode the panic. "Was that a statement or a request?"

"Consider it doctor's orders?" Owen asked.

Ianto glanced briefly towards Jack's office, seeing the other man looking entirely too busy and much too pleased with himself. Jack might have gotten away with it, if the file he had been reading so intently wasn't upside down. You could never trust that man.

He looked back over at Owen and slowly matched the other man's smirk; He countered Owen's question.

"Consider it a date?"

The End


End file.
